Brian Caraway Gets UFC 159 SOTN Bonus After Pat Healy’s Suspension

It appears that Brian Caraway is going to get the fight night bonus that he campaigned to increase, although in a rather indirect way. Caraway stepped in for Erik Perez at UFC 159 to face Johnny Bedford, and he fought well, earning a submission victory in the last round.

The win set Caraway up for the bonus, but Pat Healy ruined those plans when he fought an absolute war against Jim Miller, finishing it with a rear-naked choke. However, news broke last night that Healy had spoiled most of the acclaim he garnered that night by failing the UFC 159 drug test for marijuana. Caraway now gets the bonus by default, as Dana White tweeted:

@_royy it’s known up front that checks are held until everyone passes the drug test. Brian Caraway get the SON now. Healy did himself dirty.

So it’s an odd set of circumstances that Caraway, the man who petitioned White to increase the bonuses to $65,000 (and got it done), now gets the bonus due to a drug test failure. And many may argue that’s it’s an even odder set of circumstances that has Healy in this position in the first place. Yes, he failed for marijuana, which is a widely known banned substance, and is now suspended for 90 days. But the sport’s rules become a little backwards when fighters are taking TRT knowingly and willingly with a doctor’s note, while other fighters are being suspended for smoking marijuana, which is hardly a performance enhancing substance for an MMA fighter.

In any case, the debate rages, and Healy knows he made a mistake. I guess like Dana White says, you just have to play ‘the game,’ whether you like the rules or not.